Thursday, August 25, 2016

I often write here that I sew projects for me and for sale, and do alterations from my home studio.

This year I have been doing lots of alterations. I'm saving up for a new, to me, car. I was asked to hem 7 curtain panels, one of my least favourite tasks, but I'm kind of a grown up now, so I took the job.

It turned out that 2 of the panels had 14" removed from the bottom. They were a cool black ink floral print on a white background. My client didn't want the leftover fabric, so I have made 2 - 12" square throw pillows and will make 2 - 12" square pillow covers. The actual pillows lasted about 5 minutes from finished to SOLD. Now to pick up the invisible zippers for the pillow covers and see if they go as quickly!

This is a true repurpose of scrap material that is my aim for Living Fabric. I am very proud of myself for not leaving it in my stash for months until I can't remember what I planned to do with it. The true test for this project is how long it will take for me to finish with the pillow covers.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Sometime last summer I was finding out about new and interesting denim repair Dr. Denim.

After watching some videos on free motion sewing, I bought the whole blue rainbow of options in 100% cotton thread at my local chain fabric store. I colour match for projects by laying a strand of my thread on top of my project fabric and seeing if it disappears. With a new pair of blown out jeans to practice on, I did my usual test. Well, denim is apparently much harder to colour match than I expected. This option will be stitch ripped and a darker blue with more grey will be attempted. I still need some practice on the whole free motion thing, this is a little more my machine's darning stitch full feed dogs for the win!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Well, a new year began a while ago. I think I'm catching up. I have reduced my mending pile to one piece of clothing that needs a new skill from me to fix. Yup, I'm going to teach myself to invisibly darn denim without buying a fancy vintage sewing machine. I just have to wait for my eBay cotton thread to get here from China.
Until then, a quick note about my 2016 resolutions. Hopefully I stick to them a little better than my previous ones. Although I do tend to re-evaluate and have new resolutions pop up all over the place.
Anyway....
1.) No new fabric unless I'm being paid to make something that requires it.
2.) Sew a little every day. 20 minutes at the machine, cutting matt, ironing board seems a reasonable place to start.
3.) Have fun. If sewing a big contract for monies, remember you have your own projects too.
4.) Give gifts. The more you make, the more fabric used, the closer you are to buying new fabric.
5.) Don't forget to go outside. Yeah a day sewing can feel productive, but fresh air is where it's at on this coast.

About Me

Living Fabric is an idea I have of keeping fabric alive. I try to use up all my scraps that are 4" square and bigger.
It turns out I find quilting a level of insanity that I can't fathom. I have a couple more online classes to try, but I am a clothing and small project sewer.